Top-crimped, steak and leek, that is. I’ll stick to the shaping instructions, since the dough mixing technique is almost identical to that for side-crimped pasties. We’ll pick up at the point where you’ve assembled your ingredient mound — salted at every layer of course — running right down the middle of your dough circle. Paint […]
READ ONI’ve heard that before, that side-crimped pasties are “true” Cornish-style pasties and top-crimped are Devon-style. I think some people in the West country wish the distinction were that easy to make. In fact pasty makers in both counties argue over which is best, and which crimp belongs to who. At least in my own experience.
READ ONI decided I’d stretch out a bit for the top-crimped version, and do a steak & leek treatment on the concept. It’s still within the boundaries of traditional, assuming that word has much meaning. For as you know well by now, pasties were a make-do food. Anything and everything can — and did — go […]
READ ONIs it filled with chiles, black beans and rice? I honestly don’t know. However I do know that in a town in the south of Mexico known as Pachuca, they make and serve hand pies they call pasties. They are, of course, another product of Cornish emigration, brought there by miners who weren’t after tin, […]
READ ONOne-time Upper Peninsula resident Brigitta writes in with this: I first encountered pasties when I went to college in the late 70’s in the western end of the peninsula. Although the largest ethnic group in the area are Finlanders, the pasty arrived when miners from Cornwall emigrated there to work in the copper mines. Just […]
READ ONPasties, as I mentioned last week, aren’t limited to Cornwall. Though Cornish fishermen, field hands, builders and other workmen ate them just as readily as miners, it was the latter who were responsible for spreading the pasty over the globe. The reason: the decline and eventual collapse of mining in the county. It’s a sad […]
READ ONThere’s another longstanding debate on this point, too. Did most workmen eat their pasties hot or cold? To the best of my knowledge, the answer is hot. One of my pasty mentors of old spoke about her father the field worker, who was so insistent about pasties, she was forced to run over-field for a […]
READ ON…side-crimped, glazed, with sliced potatoes and pork, that is. Top-crimped steak pasties coming soon. So then, let’s start with the dough, which is a very elementary proposition, even for those who fear pie crust. Begin by whisking your flour and salt together. Add your fat… …and work it in by hand until you get a […]
READ ONThis dough is a slightly wetter version of the dough that I use for top-crimped pasties. But either one is very wet compared to pie dough of the kind you bake in a pan. That extra toughness is of course what allows the pasty to maintain its shape without the help of a mold. So, […]
READ ONI’ve gotten more mail on this subject that I think I’ve ever gotten for a topic on joepastry.com — and from all over the world! It’s amazing how many people have stories to tell about pasties. The down side for me is that they come with too many requests! Several of those requests have been […]
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